Who pays for these tariffs? Most economists reckon that ordinary Americans will lose out, as prices in shops rise. Mr Trump and his coterie, by contrast, blithely insist that the rest of the world will shoulder the load by cutting their selling prices. So far, the evidence is giving the know-nothings a glimmer of hope.

The path to the EU’s capitulation to Donald Trump’s trade blitz was set on April 10. The sweeping “liberation day” tariffs that the US president had inflicted on most of the world earlier that month had sent financial markets into a tailspin as investors dumped US assets over recession fears.